Elevator-gate control



Feb. 10, 1925. 1,526,059

C. L. FULGHUM ELEVATOR GATE CONTROL Filed July 2'7, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet l 766 4 fl zzyzizm C. L. FULGHUM ELEVATOR GATE CONTROL Filed July 2'7 1923 l I1 I l H 3 Sheets-Sheet K'hzzz/ J7.

' I l #6 m6 I I Feb. 10, 1925.

C. L. FULGHUM ELEVATOR GATE CONTROL Filed July 2'7, 1923 3 Sheets-$1166 5 ([4 14 fizz 4 km Patented Feb. 10, 1925.

warren STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAUI) L. FULGHUM, 0F QUINCY, ILLINOIS, ,ASSIGNOR TO QUINCY ELEVATOR GATE COMPANY, OF QUINCY, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ELEVATOR-GATE CONTROL.

Application filed July 27, 19st.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CLAUD L. FULGHUM. a citizen of the: United States, residing at Quincy, in the county of Adams and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Elevator-Gate Controls, of which the following is a. specification.

This invention is an improvement upon the mechanism shown in United States Patent No. 1,378,017 relating to a device for operating freight elevator hatch doors. Among the objects'of the invention are to provide automatic means for opening, closing and controlling such elevator gates in which, if any obstruction is encountered as the gates operate, yielding or slipping will take place in the otherwise positive actuating mechanism and thus prevent accidents due to the breaking of one or more parts of the operating equipment, and to provide means by which the mechanism normally provided for gripping the power actuated, lifting bar of said prior patent may be selectively moved permanently out of gripping engagement whereby the doors may in case of accident be operated by hand.

The invention consists in means for attaining the foregoing and other objects; which can be easily and cheaply made; which is satisfactory in use and is not readily liable to get out of order. More particularly, the invention consists in numerous features and details of construction which will be hereafter more fully set forth in the specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals designate the same parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation on line 11 of Figure 2 of an elevator hatch or shaft door mechanism equipped with this invention in its preferred form. v

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure is a fragmentary, enlarged face view of the essential operating mechanism appearing in the right hand central portion of Figure 1, showing the various parts in the positions assumed when the doors are closed.

Figure 4 is an enlarged side view on the irregular line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Serial No. 654,159.

Figure 4' is a changed position view of the parts of Figure 4, taken when the elevator doors are open.

Figure 5 is a detailed plan view on the line 55 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail view of the parts appearing in the right hand central portion of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a sectional, detail view on the line 77 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a detail plan View on the irregular line 88 of Figure 6.

The mechanism of, this invention is in Figure 1 shown applied to a conventional elevator shaft or hatch having conventional parallel upright frame members 12 passing through conventional load carrying floors 14 to be traversed by the elevator and capped by a platform or floor 16 utilized in the drawings for supporting a conventional motor mechanism 18 actuating a belt, rope or chain 20 passing over pulleys 22 to sus-' tain vertically reciprocable conventional door actuating bars 24 and 26 which are conventionally connected together at their bottoms by a flexible rope, cord or the like 28, passing over conventionally disposed pulleys 29. Y

The space on at least one side of the elevator shaft or hatch immediately above each floor 14 of sufficient size to normally serve as an entrance to an elevator cage traversing the elevator shaft is closed by a pair of conveniently disposed vertically reciprocable doors 30 and 32 in closed position contacting each other on the line 34. One side of each upper door 30 is suspended upon a flexible rope or cable 36 passing over a suitably placed pulley 38 to the extremity of a horizontal arm 40 rigidly secured by any suitable means, as for instance, bolts 42, to the lower door 32. Similarly, the opposite side of the lower door 32 is attached to a flexible rope, cable or the like 44, passing over a suitably positioned pulley 46 to a corresponding but oppositely extending horizontal arm 48, secured to the upper door 30 by any suitable means, as for instance, the bolts 50. As fully explained in detail in said prior patent, the result of this conventional construction is that the doors 30 and 32 counter-balance each other and will, in the absence of power, remain in any predetermined, selected position; also that, when power is applied to either door to elevate it or depress it, the opposite door moves in unison with it but in the opposite direction.

Having provided the parts heretofore described and an elevator cage 52 of conventional form traversing the hatch 12adj acent to the various sets of doors 3032 therein, the principal problem to be solved by this invention is to provide mechanism operatable by a user in the car 52 for detachably securing the outer ends of the arms 40 and 4:8 to the vertically movable bars 2d and 26 actuated by motor 18 to thereby powerfully operate the doors 80 and 32 in desired direction, determined by the direction which the motor 18 is moving the bars 2e an d 2G, and to do this by means which is flexible enough to permit'slippage between the bars and the gripping mechanism should there be an unexpected obstruction either in the paths of the doors to be operated or at any other point in the device, thus preventin accidents which would otherwise be cause-d by such obstruction. The desired resultis obtained by the use of the clutch and operating mechanism therefor, now to be described.

The mechanisms attached to the arms 10 and 4:8, for the purpose described, are identical except that they are placed in reversed positions. The detailed drawings and the following description for convenience apply only to the mechanism as mounted. on arm 48.

It so happens that the particular arm 48, here shown, is made in two pieces secured together by any suitable means as rivets 54: (lligure 5). To; the outer end or extension of this arm 41-8 is rigidly secured by any suitable means, as, for instance, bolts 56, a clutch case or housing 58 shown in section in Figure '7, having in one face the relatively large rectangular cavity 60 covered at. its bottom with a leather packing62 over which the bar 26 entering said cavity through the top perforation 64k and bottom perforation 66 slides. The face of bars 26 opposite to the leather packing 62 is engagedv by an other leather or similar suitable packing 68, carried on the face of a clutch plate or cover 70 reciprocable into and out of cavity 60 toward andfrom the bar 26. Integral with housing 58 and outside of this plate 70 is a U-shaped frame 72, having a downwardly extending lug 7 L opposite approximately, the center of the face of clutch plate 70. Behind this lug 7d and between it and the plate 70, is a. compression spring 76 centered on a bolt 7 8 passing through the approximate center of lug Tet and threaded into plate 70 and screw threads 80, with the resuit that the operator can, by applying a wrench to bolt 78 and turnin itu. in said threads 80, draw plate '70 and the attached bushing or packing 68 so far toward bracket 74 that the packing 68 does not engage rod 25. This adjustment is of use only when something happens to the mechanism otherwise herein described, and it is desirable to manipulate the doors 30 and 32 by hand. Under normal conditions, this bolt 78 is left in the position of Figure '8 so that spring 76 is free to urge plate 70 and its attached packing 68 against rod 26 except as restrained by mechanism hereafter described.

"Insidethe cavity 60, behind member 70 and on opposite sides of thebar 28 are two elongated, parallel blocks 82, reciprocable on guide rods 84'slidably mounted in plate 70 toward and from said plate, the limit of such motion of the blocks toward the plate being selectively determined by the manual adjustment of the set-screws 86 controlled by conventional lock nuts 88. i

The face of each block 82 which is opposite to the point of its particular set screw 86 is engaged by one of two parallel cams 90, rigidly mounted on a shaft 92, suitably journalled in housing 58. On this shaft 92 and outside the housing is a compound lever arm 9l96, one part 94: being secured on the shaft by any suitable means, as bolt 9 8, the other part 96 being pivoted to the first part 9st at 100 and selectively adjustable angularly on said pivot by a conventional pin and. slot connection 102. The lever arnr part 96is Urshapedv or fork shaped so, as to pro,- vide two separate arms or forks 10st and 106;. The arm 10 1 just referred to isso positioned that when the do0rs3O and; 32 are IOU closed, it, as shown in Figures?) and 4t, en-

gages the latch 108 pivoted at 110; on the frame of the, machine and urged toward said member by a. compression spring 112. The. other arm 106 is so shapedand positioned that it lies adjacent to the path of travel of a collapsible cam operating block 114 116 adapted, when carried in the, position ofFigures 2 and i by theta? 52to. pass. an adjacent. arm 106 withont engaging it to operate the clutch mechanism. This cam operating block llfl -ll6 includes the'twome nbers which in Figure l: hear those two numerals, the same being conneclted together by parallel links 118 of corn ventional form. Member 11,6 is stationary on the wall of car 52. ixiember 1151 isfattached by a connecting rod 120 t-o a'lever 122 adapted to be actuated by afoot pedal 12% engageable by an operator in the car 52, the result being that when the operator steps on this pedal, thereby raising rod 120, member 114 swings out away from member 116 to a distance measuredby the lengths of the links 118 with the result that member. 11st is forcedginto engagement with member 106, thereby rocking lever 9-1-96 in a counter-clockwise direct-ion as viewed 'in Figure 4, to cause member 1041- to move latch";

108 in a counter-clockwise direction against spring 112 out of the way of door member 30, thereby permitting the door to be open.

Spring 112 is stronger than spring 76 with the result that while the parts remain in the position of Fig. 4 clutch plate 6872 is always released from bar 26 but the rocking of lever 108 tothe left as just described releases this control of spring 7 6 and it accordingly at once causes plate 6870 to frictionally grip bar 26, this because the described rocking of lever 9496, the turning of shaft 92 moved cams 90 out of engagement with blocks 82, thereby allowing the spring 76 to force clutch plate and its packing 68 into engagement with bar 26, whereby upward movement of the bar elevates the entire clutch housing 58, including arm 48 and the door attached thereto thus to open door 30 and consequently door 32,

which is not only counterbalanced to it as described, but is also simularly simultaneously looked through arm 40 to bar 24 moving in unison with bar 26.

The described separation of members 114 and 116 may take place while the parts are at rest at or about the position of Figure 4 or the operator may press pedal 124 while the car is above or below door posit-ion, in which case, as the car moves to that position, arm 106 is first engaged by an angular end 115 of member 114 and then by the flat face of the member. 7

The prior patent fully describes the use of an electric button on the car 52 simultaneously actuated by pedal 124 to electrically energize motor 18 thereby start-ing bar 26 upward or in the direction required to open door 30. As the bar housing and attached parts move upward from the changed position described with the lever 104106 held over to the left by the expanded block 114116, member 104 passes above the zone of control by latch 108 and member 106 passes off from member 114 but this does not affect the continued gripping of bar 26 by plate 6870 and all the parts therefore assume the position of Fig. 4 until the door is completely open, and remain in that position until the door is on reverse movement nearly closed.

When the door has been completely opened, mechanism not entering into this invention stops the motor 18. On desiring to close the doors, the motor 18 is, by mechanism not entering into this invention, restarted in the opposite direction with the result that the parts now in the position of Figure 4 begin to return to the normal or door closed position. As the door and attached clutch housing descend, the bar carrying the clutch housing strikes the upper inclined surface of latch 108 thereby rocking it to the left as viewed in Figure 4 until it can be passed. Vhen the parts reach the normal position, this latch snaps back into place as shown in Figure 4 thus, under the action of spring 112 striking arm 104 and thereby in obvious manner causing cams 90 to engage blocks 82 and thereby force clutch plate 70 entirely clear of moving bar 26, thus stopping the door movement. At this point, mechanism not entering into this invention stops motor 18.

The ability to adjust screws 86 in and out and the ability to adjust lever 9496 through connection 102 is important in securing proper initial adjustment of springs 76 and 112 one to the other for proper op eration of the device.

The mechanism 114116 is made of such a length that it is never capable of striking member 106 of a given pair of doors 30-32 except when the car 52 is substantially in register with the opening for those particular doors.

Owing to the fact that the whole clutch mechanism is really controlled by two springs 76 and 112, it is apparent that if any obstruct-ion is encountered by the movlng door 30 or 32 or elsewhere, one or both spring can yield enough to allow the rods 24 and 26 to slip through their respective clutch packings 62-68 and thus prevent damage to the apparatus.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. In mechanism of the class described, in combination with a hatch, a door sliding thereon, a latch for the door, a power mem ber moving in the direction the door is to move and a car movable in the hatch, a clutch sustained by the door attachable to the power member, a spring for the latch normally holding said clutch disengaged from the power member, a spring of less strength than the latch spring normally trying to move the clutch to engage the power member, and means carried by the car operable under predetermined conditions to assist the second spring to overcome the latch and first spring.

2. In mechanism of the class described, in combination with a hatch, a door sliding thereon, a latch for the door, a power member moving in the direction the door is to move and a car movable in the hatch, a friction clutch sustained by the door slidably attachable to the power member, a spring for the latch normally holding said clutch disengaged from the power member, a spring of less strength than the latch spring normally trying to move the clutch to engage the power member, and means carried by the car operable under predetermiined conditions to assist the second spring to overcome the latch and first spring.

3. In mechanism of the class described, in combination with a hatch, a door sliding thereon, a latch for the door, a power member moving in the, directionthe door is to move and a car movable in the hatch, a clutch sustained by. the door attachable to the'power member, a spring for the] latch normally holding said clutch; disengaged from the power member, a spring or less strength than the latchspringnormally trying to move the clutch to engage "thepower member,,means carriedby the car operable under predetermined c'onditionsto assist the second spring to overcome the, latch and first spring, and, means, selectively, (operable. to render the second spring inefiective.

4/111 mechanism of the class described, in combination with ahatch, adoor sliding thereon, a latch for the door-,apoiver member moving inthe direction thedoor is to move and a car. movable in the hatch,a triotionclutch, sustained by the door slidably attachable to the power member, a spring for the latch normally holdingsaid clutch disengaged, from the; power member, a spring of less strength than the latch spring A normally trying to move the clutch to en:

gage the power member, means vcarried'by the car operable under predetermined, con% ditions to assist the'second, springito overcome the latchg and first spring, and means, selectively operable to render the second spring ineffective.

5. In mechanism of the class described in combination with a. hatch, afdoor sliding thereon, a latch for the door, a power member moving in the direction the door is to move and a. car. movable in the hatch, a clutch sustained by the door attachable to the power member, a spring for the latch normally, holding said. clntch disengaged from the power member, a spring of less st-rengthithan the latch spring, normally, trying to move the clutch tofengage the power member, meanscar 'ied bythe car operable under predetermined, conditions to assistethe second springto overcome the latch andfirst spring, andfineans selectively operable to vary tlie st-rengthof the second spring effective on the clutch.

6. Inmechanism of the class described, in combination with aha-tch, adoorfslidi ng thereon, a latch for. the; door, a power meme ber moving inthe directionthedoor isto move and a car movableinthe hatch, a fr'c- 't-ion clutch.,sustained by the door slid-ably attachable to the power member, a spring for the latch normally holding said clutch disengaged from the power memlier,, a spring of less'strength than the latcl1,sp1'ing,, nor.- mally trying ,to move theclhtcli toengage the power member, means carried by .the car operable under predetermined conditions to assist the second spring to overcome the latch and first spring, and means selectively operable .to vary the strength of the second springefi'ective on the clutch.

In witness, whereof, I' have hereunto subscribed my name.

GLAUD L. FULGHUM. 

